Artwork, Inspiration and Daily Reflection

Tag Archives: Amish boy

Hello! First, let me say I am sorry this has taken so long. There have been several family issues (health wise) which happened to come up all at once. It’s crazy how things can be going along fine one minute, and at a moments notice, everything can change…just like that! At least I have faith to get me through … and my painting to get my mind off things and give me some form of brief escape.

But back to my painting. I’m calling this one “Aaron’s Peeking”, and even though I wish I could see more of Aaron’s face, I feel thats what gives this painting the interest it needs. I still may want to add to his straw hat, to give it a little more texture and punch, so I will work on that a little more.

I do love the fact that Aaron is peeking over an Amish quilt (of course), and I love the colorful pattern on this one. Then there is the little part of nature added in…which is Mr. Bluebird. He wants to play too! I decided to leave a blank, blue sky so I could have the option to add an inspirational quote, like I like to do. In any event, I like the way it turned out and I hope you do too.

My gosh, it’s been awhile since I have posted any paintings I am currently working on, as Christmas always throws me off. I don’t know how other artists do it, but I am just so busy doing Christmasy things in December, I just can’t, and don’t seem to have, the time or even the concentration to paint! I need to be in a relaxation mode, and the month of December is NOT that!

So anywayyyyyy… In the beginning of this month, I kept procrastinating just picking up the pastels and begin painting again. Then one day, I just sat down and grabbed one of the few unfinished pieces sitting in my art room, and started, just a little at a time. “Get in the flow… get in the flow…you can do this!”, I kept saying to myself.

So here are two of the paintings I am finishing up…John-Boy Walton (who I have always loved by the way…and we need more shows like this) annnndddd an Amish Boy peeking over a quilt on the clothesline. The Amish boy painting I had originally posted in November, when I just started him, and I can’t believe this is how long he has been sitting unfinished. I am now going to finish him, and try to come up with a title for this painting. My goal now is to do 12 amish paintings for a new calendar, but we will see how that goes. I would love to do more angels as well.

In the meantime, these are the beginnings of the two paintings, and I WILL keep you posted! Enjoy!

Hello friends. I am still working on that Lancaster Collage painting, and for some reason my heart isn’t in it, but i’m getting there. My paintings always get to a point where I tend to ask myself, “Should I have used watercolors or acrylics instead of pastels for this?” But I think I am using the right media, so I will stick with pastel and see it to the end. I will post a picture soon.

Also, I am starting another Amish painting and it’s a little different as you can see. It’s a little boy peeking over a quilt hanging on the clothesline as tiny bird watches on. You don’t see much of the boys face, but I wanted to get a grouping of images I love about Amish Country and put them together…nature,the beautiful quilts, the amish children, the labor…it’s kind of all in there…or it will be. Here’s a peek…

My new painting with no name yet

In the meantime, I also have pics of what my calendar looks like. (These are being made through Zazzle and the link will be at the bottom of this post). I am really excited though because it looks awesome! Whenever I make a pillow, sticker, mug… whatever and see my artwork in print on a product, I feel like I’ve been published or something. It’s just a great feeling to see the colors so vivid, a product someone can use, and it’s MY design! So cool. But it would be interesting to kind of get and idea on who would be interested in one, so I can decide how I should sell these. Anyway….here is what it looks like:

I really like the quality of the calendar as it’s very sturdy and the colors are so vivid. This is medium size and the size open it is about 10.5 x 16.5. I think the quotes add a nice touch to the pages that had the space to do so.

I’m sure these will really make a nice Christmas gift. I have bought a limited amount for myself to sign and sell at Pebbles and Lace in Strasburg. I will be sending these there soon. I will let you know when they are there. If you are interested and want me to sign one and send one to you, I can place a custom order on my Etsy store. If you have any questions, please let me know. You can message me here or email me at mcprop@cox.net.

Well, I will get back to work now and please let me know what you think! Thanks everyone!

***P.S. UPDATE: The calendar is now up on my Zazzle store here calendar

I have been waiting to put this post up, but I am so excited as today a pastel picture I painted is on the cover of “Amish Country News”, a monthly visitors guide publication for Lancaster, Pa . (They have 450,000 copies printed annually, and seven issues are distributed to over 300 locations, by subscription and in person, in Lancaster and surrounding counties.)
I approached the publication in June and asked if they took artwork, mentioning I do amish paintings. The publisher said they have artwork once a year for their cover, but it is for an advertisement for a local Chicken Pie business and if I wanted to submit something he would consider it and gave a deadline for the 4th of September. As soon as I sent it, the publisher brought it over to Zook’s Chicken Pies to show the owner, and they thought it was great! So today was the day it came out and it is out there until November 6th.
The funny part of all this is that I found a picture of my small nephew(Evan) eating a yummy piece of pizza at a party. I just loved his expression so much, I used his face for this painting. I added a straw hat, a chicken pie, fall colors for the background, etc….and this is how it came out. An Amish Evan! Maybe he will sell more chicken pies!
They also put another pic of mine in the issue at the bottom of the Zook’s PPie article and a half-page bio/profile for me and contact info. I’m still shaking! The publication can be seen here:http://www.amishnews.com